Graham Zillwood lives across the street from the crash site and said he was watching TV when he heard what sounded like ‘a tree breaking’.

He looked out his window and saw a car about 200 feet away that had crashed down an embankment. He immediately called 911 and as he was speaking to the call taker, he said he saw a semi-truck hit another vehicle, which was also sent down an embankment.

According to other witnesses on the scene, several other vehicles were also involved in the crash.

“It’s a real mess here,” Zillwood said, adding it had been hailing earlier. “There are flashing lights up and down as far as the eye can see.”

He added he could only see one tour bus that looked as if it had just suffered a dent from the rear.

Zillwood, who has lived in the area for 14 years, said there’s been a bad crash there almost every year because the road gets so slippery from the snow with the hill that goes up into Hope.

“We slid into a transport then we got rear-ended,” she said. “Hope is sending buses and we will be going to the high school and then we’ll be going to our various destinations.”

The RCMP has still yet to comment on the crash.

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UPDATE: 10:48 p.m.

Seven people have been taken to hospital in serious condition following a multi-vehicle crash on the Coquihalla Highway.

BC Emergency Health Services said the incident involved two transport trucks, two passenger buses and two vehicles.

Roughly 70 other passengers, uninjured, have been taken by bus with paramedics to a warming centre. Hospitals nearby, including Chilliwack General Hospital, have called a “code orange,” in preparation for incoming patients.

Emergency Health Services confirms they dispatched 22 units to an incident 30 kilometres north of Hope about 9:45 p.m.

They are unclear the number of individuals in need of medical attention. The original reported number was close to 100 people injured, although EHS now believes that number is closer to 40.

EMS does not have an exact number of people injured as a result of this collision on the Coquihalla, at this time.

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ORIGINAL: 8:30 p.m.

A crash involving several vehicles, including a tour bus, closed the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt Sunday evening.

The highway is closed in both directions between Othello Road, near exit 183, and Merritt. No estimated time yet to re-open, according to DriveBC.

We've received reports of a major motor vehicle incident on the Coquihalla highway north of Hope. Multiple ground and air units have been dispatched. Paramedics are at the scene assessing. More to come. #bcehs